Guantanamo Hunger Strike Numbers Continue To Rise

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- The number of detainees the military has recognized as hunger strikers rose again on Wednesday, days after a raid forced many of the prisoners who had been in communal settings back into individual cells.

As of Wednesday morning, 52 of the 166 detainees being held at Guantanamo were classified as hunger strikers, meaning they had skipped at least nine consecutive meals and lost substantial body weight.

The number jumped up seven from the 45 detainees who were considered hunger strikers on Tuesday. Navy spokesman Robert Durand said in an email that 15 detainees were now being force fed, up from 13 on Tuesday. Three of those prisoners were being observed in the detainee hospital.

Reporters here from the Associated Press, The New York Times, the Miami Herald and The Huffington Post are scheduled to see detainee food being prepared on Wednesday morning and get a tour of Guantanamo's Camp V.